Bicycle storage device

ABSTRACT

Storage device for bicycles and the like, storing bicycles off the floor along the wall or ceiling of a garage or like storage area. The device operates on the principle of a vertically sliding garage door opener and has a channeled track extending from the floor to the ceiling and along the ceiling. A bicycle rack having rollers at its advance and rear ends, which ride between the flanges of the channels of the track is positioned along the floor for loading with bicycles, strapped or otherwise secured thereto, and is moved upwardly along the wall and ceiling of the garage under the control of a flexible cable, trained from a winding drum. A stop is provided to limit movement of the rack along the floor and prevent the advance rollers from coming off the rack as the rack moves along the floor.

United States Patent Kolker Nov. 6, 1973 BICYCLE STORAGE DEVICE PrimaryExaminer-Roy D. Frazier [75] Inventor: Wiliiam A. Kolker, Downers Grove,Assistant Exammer R'chard Stmup I. Attorney-Carlton Hill et al.

[73] Assignee: Edward P. Miller, Downers Grove,

111. a part interest [57] ABSTRACT [22] Filed: Feb. 11, 1972 Storagedevice for bicycles and the like, storing bicy- [21] pp No; 225,424 clesoff the floor along the wall or ceiling of a garage or like storagearea. The device operates on the principle of a vertically slidinggarage door opener and has [52] US. Cl. 211/19, 105/367 3 channeledtrack extending from the floor t the ceil- [51 1 Int. Cl B62h 3/12 ingand along the ceiling. A bicycle rack having rollers [58] F ld 01 ar h nat its advance and rear ends, which ride between the 1 363 R flanges ofthe channels of the track is positioned along the floor for loading withbicycles, strapped or other- {56} References Cited wise secured thereto,and is moved upwardly along the UNITED STATES PATENTS wall and ceilingof the garage under the control of a 2,682,958 6/1954 Francis 214/ 16.1B flexime {mined from a winding A Stop is provided to limit movement ofthe rack along the floor FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS and prevent theadvance rollers from coming off the 108,915 6/1899 Germany 211/18 rackas the rack moves along the floor. 466,850 10/1928 Germany 211/17 17Claims, 6 Drawing Figures L I? F o 42 32 1 l 4 j i? QR I 3/ ml f fl- 33K 1 :'IIII-.

I 1! v 27 i 6/ I l 40 f /0 l l l i 4 i l/ /I 44 i i Ar 4a K PATENTEDNHV6:915

SHEET 2 [1F 2 TI/I/Il/lll BICYCLE STORAGE DEVICE FIELD OF THE INVENTIONOff-floor storage rack for bicycles and the like.

BACKGROUND, SUMMARY AND ADVANTAGES OF INVENTION Bicycles, when not isuse, are usually stored in garages and rest along the wall of the garageor else are carried in floor racks. The floor racks require an undueamount of floor space and where the garage contains two cars, the floorspace is not available, particularly where there are more than twobicycles in a family, with the result that the bicycles impede access toat least one car and frequently scratch or nick the car, or even may berun over by the car when backing out or entering the garage.

In accordance with the present invention, I utilize the principles of aconventional vertically sliding garage door opener and place the tracksfor the door along the side wall of the garage and extend the tracksfrom the floor to and along the ceiling of the garage. A bicycle rack isguided in the tracks and rests on the floor when loading with bicyclesand is arranged to hold the bicycles in upright positions on the floor.The rack, when loaded with bicycles, is moved along the track by aconventional door opener cable trained from a winch manually or poweroperated, or is raised with the assist of the tension of springs aidingin lifting the rack to be suspended from the ceiling and controllinglowering of the rack to the floor.

The advantages of the present invention are that more than one bicyclemay be stored in a garae and require little, if any of the storage areathat is otherwise provided for cars in the garage.

A further advantage of the storage device is in its simplicity andadaptability for storing bicycles, to be suspended from the ceiling overthe hood of a car and thereby requiring a minimum of floor area, andenabling many bicycles to be stored, without interfering with the carsin the garage.

A principal object of the present invention, therefore, is to provide astorage device for bicycles arranged with a view toward utmostsimplicity in construction and efficiency in operation and storing thebicycles off the floor so as to require a minimum amount of floor spacein the garage.

Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be readilyapparent from the following description of a preferred embodimentthereof, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, althoughvariations and modifications may be effected without departing from thespirit and scope of the novel concepts of the disclosure.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a view in side elevation of astorage device constructed in accordance with the principles of thepresent invention, showing in solid lines a bicycle suspended from itsrack to depend from the ceiling, and showing the rack for the bicycle onthe floor with the bicycle loaded thereon, by broken lines.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken substantially along line lI-II of FIG.1.

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the bicycle rack.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view illustrating the track for therack as it curves to the floor and the stop for preventing the advancerollers of the rack from coming off the rack, as the rack is lowered tofloor level.

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary transverse sectional view of the rack showingthe adaptation of torsion springs controlling the lowering of the rackand assisting in the raising of the rack to its storage position; and

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary sectional view taken substantially along lineVI-VI of FIG. 5.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF INVENTION In the embodiment ofthe invention illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawings, I have showna bicycle storage device 10 including a track 11 in the form of a pairof parallel spaced channels opening toward each other and having flanges12 and 13 extending from the webs of the channels.

The flanges 13 are shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 as being the outer flanges ofthe track as the track extends along the wall of the garage or otherstorage facility and the lower flange as the track extends along theceiling. The flanges 13 each have a gib 15 extending inwardly therefromfor the length thereof. The gibs 15 of opposite flanges l3 cooperatewith the flanges 12 to form a guide track for advance rollers or wheels16 at the advance end ofa bicycle rack 17 when traveling upwardly alongthe track,and with trailing rollers 19 at the trailing end of the rack17, to guide the rack for movement along the track 1 l upwardly alongthe wall of the building and to suspend the rack from said track fromthe ceiling of the building. The rollers 16 and 19 may be conventionalgarage door rollers.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, brackets 21, shown as being in the form ofangle brackets are secured to the wall of the garage on their verticallegs and to the track 11 on their horizontal legs, to support the trackto extend upwardly along the wall of the garage in parallel relationwith respect thereto. The track 11 turns from the wall of the buildingabout a uniform arc at the upper end ofits path of travel, to extendparallel to the ceiling. The horizontal run of the track is suspendedfrom ceiling beams 22, as by suspension straps 23, suitably secured tothe ceiling beams and depending there from and welded or otherwisesecured to the flanges 13 of the horizontal run of the track.

The rack 17 is shown in FIG. 3 as being in the form of an openframework, comprising at least two parallel spaced upwardly openingchannels connected together adjacent their leading and trailing ends bycross bars 26. The cross bars 26 are hollow rectangular cross bars ofsufficient capacity to carry four or more bicycles. An upright 27 in theform of a channel extends upwardly of the leading end of each channel 25and opens to said channel and may be welded or otherwise securedthereto. Gussets 29 extending along opposite sides of the channels 25and 27 are provided to brace the channels 27 to the channels 25 and maybe welded or otherwise secured to said channels. The uprights 27 areadapted to receive a front wheel 30 of a bicycle, while the channels 25are adapted to receive a rear wheel 31 of the bicycle and the frontwheel of the bicycle. The wheels 30 and 31 of the bicycle may beclamped, clipped or strapped to the channels 25 and 27 in any suitablemanner. Straps 32 are diagrammatically shown in FIG. 1 as strapping thefront and rear wheels of the bicycle to the associated channel 25. Astrap 33 is diagrammatically shown as strapping the front wheel to theupright channel 27. The straps may be of various well-known forms andform no part of the present invention, so need not herein be shown ordescribed in detail.

The advance rollers 16 are freely mounted on shafts 35 mounted in andextending outwardly of the advance cross bar 26 while the trailingrollers 19 are mounted on similar shafts 35 mounted in and extendingoutwardly of the trailing cross frame member 26.

The trailing portions of the channels 25 are beveled at their trailingends as indicated by reference numeral 36, to provide an inclinedsurface at the trailing end of the rack, to reduce any obstruction atthe trailing end of the rack which may be likely to be tripped over orto tear the clothes. The extreme end of the beveled ends 36 of thechannels may be rounded so as to avoid any sharp surfaces.

It will be noted in FIG. 3 that the leading and trailing cross bars 26are provided with drilled holes at equally spaced intervals therealongas indicated by reference numerals 37 to accommodate the positions ofthe channels 25 to be changed and also to receive bolts for bolting saidchannels to said cross bars and to accommodate the mounting ofadditional channels on said cross bars to increase the storage capacityof the rack. As shown in FIG. 3, the drilled holes 37 are spaced apartdifferences equal to half the width of the handle bars of a bicycle.Thus, when it is desired to increase the storage capacity of the rack,an additional channel 25 may be mounted on the rack in the central boltholes 37 to provide capacity for three bicycles. -Where it is desired tostore more than three bicycles, the channels 25 shown in FIG. 3 may beunbolted from the cross bars 26 and bolted to the end bolt holes 37 ofsaid cross bars. Other channels may be bolted in the third bolt holes 37from the ends of the cross bars 26, to provide storage capacity for fourbicycles. Where the handle bars may be narrower, a fifth channel may bebolted to the central bolt holes 37 in the cross bars 26 to providestorage capacity for five bicycles. The bicycles, of course, may be instaggered relation with respect to each other with the front wheelsstrapped to alternate uprights, and the rear wheels of the bicyclesstrapped to the uprights in between. The spacing between the channels ofthe track 11, however, may be varied and the cross bars 26 may beincreased in length to increase ths storage capacity of the rack.

The rack 17 is shown as having a connector 39 for a cable 40 connectedto the trailing cross bar 26. The connection from said connector to thecable may be conventional cable connections as for example, a clevis(not shown) connected to the trailing end of the cable and pivoted tothe connector 39. In the form of the invention shown in FIGS. 1, 3 and4, the cable extends from the connector 39 beneath the rack and aboutthe advance cross frame member 26 and upwardly of said cross framemember to and about a sheave 41 freely rotatably mounted in brackets 43.Said brackets are secured to the outer sides of the channels forming thetrack 11, adjacent the upper end thereof in the region where the trackcurves from the vertical to extend parallel to the ceiling.

From the sheave 41, the cable extends downwardly to and about a winch44. Said winch is mounted on a shaft 42 journalled in bearing brackets45 extending upwardly of a cross bar 46 connecting the channels of thetrack 11 together. A shaft 47 is provided to turn the winch 44 to windthe cable thereon. The shaft 47 is shown in FIG. 1 as extending parallelto the shaft 42 and offset from the axis of the shaft 42 and mounted atits outer end in a bearing bracket 48 extending from a flange 12 towardthe wall of the building. A crank 49 is provided on the outer end of theshaft 47 to enable said shaft to be manually turned. The shaft 47 isconnected with a winch 44 to rotatably drive said winch through asuitable gear reduction drive (not shown) of a conventional form. Aconventional pawl and ratchet (not shown) may also be provided, which ismanually operable to hold the winch 44 from rotation in an unwindingdirection. The track 11 curves away from the wall of the build ingtoward the floor at its lower end as indicated by reference numeral 50and the flanges 12 terminate at floor level, to accommodate the trailingrollers 19 to fit within said track. During operation of the rack toraise and lower a bicycle thereon, the leading rollers 16 are always inthe track 11 and are held from coming out of the track upon loweringmovement thereof by a movable stop 51, shown as being in the form of abell crank. The stop 51 is pivoted at its center on a transverse shaft53, carried at its opposite ends in upright ears 54 extending upwardlyof a plate 55 extending along the garage floor. The plate 55 terminatesat the garage wall to a vertical plate 56 extending at right anglesthereto, and secured to the garage wall as by screws 57, or any othersuitable securing devices. As shown in FIG. 4, the stop 51 includes anactuating arm 59 extending from the pivot shaft 53 generally along thefloor when the stop is in position to retain the rollers 16 to thetrack,

and has a stop arm 60 extending at right angles with respectto saidactuating arm. The stop arm 60 is thus held from tilting in a release orclockwise direction by the actuating arm 59 and is abutted by theleading cross frame member 26 which is the trailing member duringlowering movement of the rack, to prevent movement of the rack 17 beyondthe position shown in FIG. 4. The stop arm 60 has a slot 62 thereinalong which the cable 40 is trained (FIG. 4), when said .arm is in itsupright position.

As the rack 17 is lifted along the track 11 by operation of the winch44, turned by the handle 49, the trailing rollers or wheels 19 will rollalong the floor and come into the track 11, and be retained thereto bythe flanges 12 and 13 and the gibs 15. Upon continued upward travel ofthe rack, the trailing cross frame member 26 will come into engagementwith the upright stop arm 60 and pivot said stop arm from the positionshown in FIG. 1 to a generally horizontal position along the floor asshown in FIG. 1. The actuating arm 59 will then remain in the uprightposition shown in FIG. 1 until lowering movement of the rack, at whichtime the trailing cross frame member 26 will engage said actuating armand pivot it in a clockwise direction to bring the stop arm 60 into anupright stopping position to engage the advance cross frame member 26and retain the advance rollers or wheels 16 to the track 11.

It should be understood that with the form of the invention illustratedin FIGS. 1 to 4, as the rack 17 moves upwardly along the verticalportion of the track 11 by turning movement of the winch 44 by the handcrank 49, the advance wheels or rollers 16 will move along the curvedportion of said track to and along the horizontal portion thereofextending along the ceiling of the garage. The positioning of the rackalong the horizontal portion of the track is limited by the position ofthe sheave 41 and with the position of the sheave 41 shown, the rack 17will be in angular relation with respect to the track at the extremelifting position of the cable 40. In order to place the rack 17 into thehorizontal position shown in FIG. 1, a strap 61 may be connected to thetrailing cross frame member 26, and used to extend the rack along thetrack 1 1 to suspend the bicycle from the ceiling in the manner shown bysolid lines in FIG. 1. Where a strap is not provided, the bicycle itselfmay be grasped by the hand and the bicycle and rack may be advancedalong the track 11 into the proper position.

When it is desired to lower the bicycle, the strap 61 may be grasped tostart the rack and bicycle along the track or the hand crank 49 may beturned to first take up on theflexible cable 40 and to then accommodatethe rack to be moved downwardly along the track 11 under the control ofsaid hand crank, or by gravity, with sufficient speed to accommodate therack and bicycle or bicycles thereon to move downwardly along the trackand along the floor into the broken line position shown in FIG. 1. Inthis position, further movement of the rack is stopped by the stop arm60 of the stop 51.

It should here be understood that while I have shown a hand operatedwinch for raising the rack 17 along the track 11 and for controllinglowering of said rack, that the winch may be power driven by a suitablemotor connected with said winch through reduction gearing, which may beworm-and-worm gearing of the self- Iocking type to prevent overrunningof the winch and cable during lowering movement of the rack.

The winch also need not necessarily be located in the position shown butwhere the winch is power driven, it may be located at the end of thehorizontal portion of the track to enable the rack to be moved along thetrack by power into and along the horizontal portion thereof. The winch44 and its location is, therefore, shown for illustrative purposes only.The location of the sheave 41 may also be varied, where required, tocause movement of the rack into a horizontal position along the track11.

In FIGS. 5 and 6 of the drawings, I have shown the adaptation of torsionsprings for controlling downward movement of the rack 17 and assistingin upper travel of said rack along the track 11. In this form of theinvention, the rack 17, track 11 and stop 51 are of the sameconstruction as in the form of the invention illustrated in FIGS. 1through 4, so like reference numerals will be applied to the same partsas in FIGS. 1 through 4 As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, two winding drums 63are mounted adjacent the ceiling on a transverse shaft 64 disposed abovethe horizontal portion of the track 11 in the region where the trackcurves from the vertical to the horizontal. The shaft 64 is suitablyjournalled at its opposite ends outside of the winding drums 63 onsuitable bearing brackets 65 extending from the wall of the building,and having right angled legs 66 secured to the wall of the building, asby screws or bolts, or any other suitable securing means. As shown inFIGS. 5 and 6, each winding drum has a collar or hub 67 extendinginwardly therefrom and shown as securing the associated drum to saidshaft 64 as by a set screw 69.

Two aligned torsion springs encircle the shaft 64 and extend along thehubs of flanged couplingmembers 71 at their inner ends and are suitablysecured thereto. The coupling members 71 clear the shaft 64 toaccommodate rotation of said shaft with respect to said coupling membersand are secured to a bracket plate 73 extending from the wall of thebuilding and having a right angled leg 74 bolted or otherwise secured tothe wall of the building. The flanges of the flanged coupling members 71extend along opposite sides of the bracket plate 73 and are boltedthereto as by nuts and bolts 75, in a conventional manner. The oppositeor outer ends of the torsion springs 70 are suitably secured to collars76 on the shaft 64. Set screws 77, or other securing means are providedto secure said collars to said shaft, to rotate therewith.

Each winch or drum 63 has a flexible cable 79 wound thereon connected tothe trailing cross frame member 26 of the rack 17 by connectors 80extending from said cross frame member. The connection from the cables79 to the connectors 80 may be in the form of a clevis (not shown) ormay be any suitable form of connector and are no part of the presentinvention, so need not herein be shown or described in detail.

When the rack 17 is in the position shown in FIG. 5, the torsion springs70 are in their relaxed condition. A strap 81 may be connected with therear or trailing cross frame member 26 and depend therefrom when therack is in its elevated position. Upon grasping the strap 81 and pullingdownwardly on the rack 17, to bring the rollers 19 into the verticalextending portion of the track 1 1, the weight of the rack 17 along withthe bicycles thereon, will cause said rack to move downwardly along thetrack 11 against the force of the springs 70 onto and along the garagefloor into the position shown in FIG. 4. In this position of the rack,the stop arm 60 of the stop will engage the leading cross frame member26 and retain the rollers 16 to the track. During downward travel of therack tension will be taken up on the torsion springs 70 by winding thesprings about the shaft 64 by the collars 76. This will retard downwardtravel of the rack to prevent the rack from running away and dropping tothe floor. The tension of said springs, however, is not sufficient toprevent the front rollers 19 of the rack from coming out of the guidetrack 11 to support the rack for movement along the floor in theposition shown in FIG. 4.

When it is desired to move the rack along the floor upwardly along thetrack 11 into position suspending bicycles thereon from the ceiling, itis merely necessary to start the rack along its upward travel along thetrack 11 by pulling on a bicycle, after which time the torsion springs70 will assist in raising the rack to extend along the ceiling. The rack17 of itself will stop in the position shown in FIG. 6. Where it isdesired to place the entire rack in the horizontal portion of the track,it is merely necessary to grasp the strap 81 and pull the rack into thisposition.

It should here be understood that while I have shown torsion springs andwinding drums for retarding downward travel of the rack and the bicyclesthereon, and for assisting in raising the rack, that conventionaltension springs commonly used for raising and lowering garage doors maybe substituted in place of the torsion springs. The torsion springs,however, require less room than the tension springs and also the use oftwo torsion springs extending from the center toward opposite ends ofthe shaft 64 has a longer effective travel than the tension springs, andaccommodates the lowering of the rack at a sufficient rate of speed tomove along the floor without assistance.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a storage device for bicycles and the: like,

a pair of tracks supported to extend vertically from the floor along thewall of a building and comprising parallel spaced facing channels havingentering ends curving downwardly to floor level,

a bicycle rack guided in said tracks and adapted to rest on the floor toaccommodate the placing of a bicycle thereon and to move upwardly alongsaid tracks for storing the bicycle off the floor and comprising agenerally open frame including a plurality of parallel spaced upwardlyopening channels each of which is adapted to receive the wheels of abicycle,

cross frame members connecting said channels together and having rollersfreely mounted on the outer ends thereof and ridable in said track,

means detachably securing at least one bicycle to said rack, and

stop means accommodating the rack to move upwardly along said track pastsaid stop means and to maintain the advance rollers of said rack in saidtrack at the end of downward travel of said rack.

2. The storing device of claim 1,

wherein the rack has channel-like uprights extending upwardly of theadvance ends of said channels and registering with said channels, forreceiving individual wheels of a bicycle, and

wherein the means detachably securing the wheels of the bicycle to saidrack comprise strap means securing the wheels to an associated channel,and other strap means for detachably securing one wheel of each bicycleto an associated of said uprights,

3. The bicycle storing device of claim 2,

wherein the stop means comprises a bell crank pivoted intermediate itsends and having a stop arm extending upwardly between said trackadjacent the curved lower end thereof and an actuating arm extendinggenerally along the floor,

whereby said actuating arm is moved by the trailing cross frame memberof said rack as the trailing cross frame member engages said stop armand passes thereby, and pivots said actuating arm into an uprightposition, and

whereby on lowering movement of the rack, the trailing cross framemember leading the advance rollers, comes into engagement with saidactuating arm and pivots the bell crank to raise said stop arm to engagethe advance cross frame member of the track and limit outward movementof said rack along said track.

4. The storing device of claim 2,

wherein means are provided for raising said rack upwardly along saidtrack comprising a flexible cable connected to said rack at the trailingend thereof and extending along said rack upwardly toward the upper endthereof, and

wherein a winding drum is provided for winding in on said cable to exertan upward pulling force on said rack along said track, and to retardlowering movement of said rack along said track.

5. The storing device of claim 4,

wherein the track curves at its upper end to extend in a horizontalplane along the ceiling, and means are provided for suspending thehorizontal portion of said track to extend along the ceiling, to supportsaid rack to suspend at least one bicycle secured to said rack from theceiling.

6. The storing device of claim 5,

wherein the means raising the rack along the track to be supported tosuspend at least one bicycle from the ceiling, comprises at least onewinch, a direction changing sheave adjacent the top of said track,training the cable to extend downwardly along said track, and

wherein means are provided to rotatably drive said winch to assist inraising said rack along said track, and to retard rotation of saidwinch, to retard lowering movement of said rack along said track.

7. The storage device of claim 6,

wherein the winch is manually operable and controllable.

8. The storage device of claim 5,

wherein spring means placed under tension by lowering of said rack alongsaid track are provided to retard lowering of said rack along saidtrack, to move therealong at a controlled rate of speed, and to assistin raising said rack along said track.

9. The storage device of claim 8,

wherein the spring means comprise torsion spring means and winding drumstaking up tension on said spring means by lowering movement of said rackalong said track, and rotatably driven by said spring means to assist inraising said rack along said track.

10. The bicycle rack of claim 9,

wherein the cross frame members are adapted to carry more than twochannels equally spaced therealong to accommodate the rack to store morethan two bicycles.

11. The bicycle rack of claim 9,

wherein the cross frame members are provided with a plurality of throughbolt holes at equal spacings therealong, and

wherein the bolt holes extending through said cross frame members areadapted for the connection of a plurality of channels thereto, to adaptthe rack for carrying more than two bicycles.

12, The bicycle storage device of claim 9,

wherein the stop means for maintaining the advance rollers in the trackcomprise a bell crank pivoted intermediate its ends for movement about astationary transverse axis and having a stop arm extending upwardly fromthe axis thereof and an actuating arm spaced from said stop arm andengaged by said rack to move said stop arm into position to extendupwardly of the discharge end of said track and engage a cross framemember carrying the leading rollers, upon lowering movement of said rackalong the track.

13. The bicycle storage device of claim 12,

wherein the winding drums are disposed along the ceiling, and

wherein flexible cables are connected from said winding drums to saidrack at the trailing end thereof 14. In a storing device for bicyclesand the like,

a pair of tracks supported to extend vertically from the floor along thewall and ceiling of a building and comprising parallel spaced facingchannels having entering ends curving downwardly to floor level andcurving at the upper ends thereof to extend in a horizontal plane alongthe ceiling,

a roller supported bicycle rack having a leading end and a trailing endguided in said tracks, in which the trailing end is adapted to rest onthe floor, said rack having at least one upwardly opening channel memberextending therealong to accommodate the placing of a bicycle on saidchannel and to move upwardly with said rack along said tracks forstoring the bicycle to depend from the ceiling,

means detachably securing the front and rear wheels of the bicycle tosaid rack,

other means for moving the rack upwardly along said track and along theportion thereof extending along the ceiling of a building, and

movable stop means for accommodating the rack to move upwardly alongsaid tracks past said stop means and to maintain the advance rollers ofsaid rack in said track at the end of downward travel of one side ofsaid channel adjacent the curved lower end thereof, and an actuating armextending generally along the floor,

whereby said actuating arm is moved by said rack as the trailing end ofsaid rack engages said stop arm and passes thereby and pivots saidactuating arm into an upright position,

and whereby on lowering movement of said rack, the

trailing end of said rack leading the leading end comes into engagementwith said actuating arm and pivots the bell crank to raise said stop armto engage the leading end of the rack and limit outward movement of saidrack along the floor.

16. The storage device of claim 14, including spring means placed undertension by lowering of said rack along said track to retard lowering ofsaid rack and cause said rack to move along said track at a controlledrate of speed, and to assist in raising said rack along said track.

17. The bicycle rack of claim 16, wherein the rack is adapted to carrymore than two channels equally spaced therealong to accommodate the rackto store more than two bicycles.

1. In a storage device for bicycles and the like, a pair of trackssupported to extend vertically from the floor along the wall of abuilding and comprising parallel spaced facing channels having enteringends curving downwardly to floor level, a bicycle rack guided in saidtracks and adapted to rest on the floor to accommodate the placing of abicycle thereon and to move upwardly along said tracks for storing thebicycle off the floor and comprising a generally open frame including aplurality of parallel spaced upwardly opening channels each of which isadapted to receive the wheels of a bicycle, cross frame membersconnecting said channels together and having rollers freely mounted onthe outer ends thereof and ridable in said track, means detachablysecuring at least one bicycle to said rack, and stop means accommodatingthe rack to move upwardly along said track past said stop means and tomaintain the advance rollers of said rack in said track at the end ofdownward travel of said rack.
 2. The storing device of claim 1, whereinthe rack has channel-like uprights extending upwardly of the advanceends of said channels and registering with said channels, for receivingindividual wheels of a bicycle, and wherein the means detachablysecuring the wheels of the bicycle to said rack comprise strap meanssecuring the wheels to an associated channel, and other strap means fordetachably securing one wheel of each bicycle to an associated of saiduprights.
 3. The bicycle storing device of claim 2, wherein the stopmeans comprises a bell crank pivoted intermediate its ends and having astop arm extending upwardly between said track adjacent the curved lowerend thereof and an actuating arm extending generally along the floor,whereby said actuating arm is moved by the trailing cross frame memberof said rack as the trailing cross frame member engages said stop armand passes thereby, and Pivots said actuating arm into an uprightposition, and whereby on lowering movement of the rack, the trailingcross frame member leading the advance rollers, comes into engagementwith said actuating arm and pivots the bell crank to raise said stop armto engage the advance cross frame member of the track and limit outwardmovement of said rack along said track.
 4. The storing device of claim2, wherein means are provided for raising said rack upwardly along saidtrack comprising a flexible cable connected to said rack at the trailingend thereof and extending along said rack upwardly toward the upper endthereof, and wherein a winding drum is provided for winding in on saidcable to exert an upward pulling force on said rack along said track,and to retard lowering movement of said rack along said track.
 5. Thestoring device of claim 4, wherein the track curves at its upper end toextend in a horizontal plane along the ceiling, and means are providedfor suspending the horizontal portion of said track to extend along theceiling, to support said rack to suspend at least one bicycle secured tosaid rack from the ceiling.
 6. The storing device of claim 5, whereinthe means raising the rack along the track to be supported to suspend atleast one bicycle from the ceiling, comprises at least one winch, adirection changing sheave adjacent the top of said track, training thecable to extend downwardly along said track, and wherein means areprovided to rotatably drive said winch to assist in raising said rackalong said track, and to retard rotation of said winch, to retardlowering movement of said rack along said track.
 7. The storage deviceof claim 6, wherein the winch is manually operable and controllable. 8.The storage device of claim 5, wherein spring means placed under tensionby lowering of said rack along said track are provided to retardlowering of said rack along said track, to move therealong at acontrolled rate of speed, and to assist in raising said rack along saidtrack.
 9. The storage device of claim 8, wherein the spring meanscomprise torsion spring means and winding drums taking up tension onsaid spring means by lowering movement of said rack along said track,and rotatably driven by said spring means to assist in raising said rackalong said track.
 10. The bicycle rack of claim 9, wherein the crossframe members are adapted to carry more than two channels equally spacedtherealong to accommodate the rack to store more than two bicycles. 11.The bicycle rack of claim 9, wherein the cross frame members areprovided with a plurality of through bolt holes at equal spacingstherealong, and wherein the bolt holes extending through said crossframe members are adapted for the connection of a plurality of channelsthereto, to adapt the rack for carrying more than two bicycles.
 12. Thebicycle storage device of claim 9, wherein the stop means formaintaining the advance rollers in the track comprise a bell crankpivoted intermediate its ends for movement about a stationary transverseaxis and having a stop arm extending upwardly from the axis thereof andan actuating arm spaced from said stop arm and engaged by said rack tomove said stop arm into position to extend upwardly of the discharge endof said track and engage a cross frame member carrying the leadingrollers, upon lowering movement of said rack along the track.
 13. Thebicycle storage device of claim 12, wherein the winding drums aredisposed along the ceiling, and wherein flexible cables are connectedfrom said winding drums to said rack at the trailing end thereof
 14. Ina storing device for bicycles and the like, a pair of tracks supportedto extend vertically from the floor along the wall and ceiling of abuilding and comprising parallel spaced facing channels having enteringends curving downwardly to floor level and curving at the upper endsthereof to extend in a horizontal plane aloNg the ceiling, a rollersupported bicycle rack having a leading end and a trailing end guided insaid tracks, in which the trailing end is adapted to rest on the floor,said rack having at least one upwardly opening channel member extendingtherealong to accommodate the placing of a bicycle on said channel andto move upwardly with said rack along said tracks for storing thebicycle to depend from the ceiling, means detachably securing the frontand rear wheels of the bicycle to said rack, other means for moving therack upwardly along said track and along the portion thereof extendingalong the ceiling of a building, and movable stop means foraccommodating the rack to move upwardly along said tracks past said stopmeans and to maintain the advance rollers of said rack in said track atthe end of downward travel of said rack.
 15. The bicycle storing deviceof claim 14, wherein the stop means is free from said channel andcomprises a bell crank pivoted intermediate its ends and having a stoparm extending upwardly at one side of said channel adjacent the curvedlower end thereof, and an actuating arm extending generally along thefloor, whereby said actuating arm is moved by said rack as the trailingend of said rack engages said stop arm and passes thereby and pivotssaid actuating arm into an upright position, and whereby on loweringmovement of said rack, the trailing end of said rack leading the leadingend comes into engagement with said actuating arm and pivots the bellcrank to raise said stop arm to engage the leading end of the rack andlimit outward movement of said rack along the floor.
 16. The storagedevice of claim 14, including spring means placed under tension bylowering of said rack along said track to retard lowering of said rackand cause said rack to move along said track at a controlled rate ofspeed, and to assist in raising said rack along said track.
 17. Thebicycle rack of claim 16, wherein the rack is adapted to carry more thantwo channels equally spaced therealong to accommodate the rack to storemore than two bicycles.